These Young Bikers Don`t Ride Harleys

TAMARAC — A group of youngsters who don`t mind a little grease on their hands are making something out of nothing at Tamarac Elementary School.

By day, these fourth- and fifth-graders put pencil to paper in the classroom. But at 3 p.m. every Friday, they wield wrenches in the schoolyard as card- carrying members of the school`s Bicycle Club.

Club members come to the meetings with a fascination for bicycles, but leave with a knowledge of how the machines work and how to fix ones that don`t.

Tamarac Police Capt. Dave Harris came up with the idea for the club when he discovered that most of the city`s youngsters were riding unsafe bicycles.

``We run a bike check every year, and we found that 90 percent of the bicycles needed repair. But the parents were too busy to do the repairs,`` Harris said.

Harris and Police Sgt. Bob Helton supervise the students with the help of Charles Brumfield, a physical education instructor at the school. Besides learning how to perform routine bike repairs, the students receive a healthy dose of responsibility.

``We`re going to organize a little bit tonight. People haven`t been putting back the tools,`` Harris told 15 club members at a recent session.

Members whose bicycles need repair set them up in rows on a concrete square in the school yard. A line forms at a workbench, where the young mechanics receive their tools. Everything is recorded in a log book, which can be referred to later if equipment is missing.

Some students, including fifth-grader Tom Stack, have prior experience in bicycle maintenance. ``Me and my grandfather used to build bicycles back in Kansas City,`` he said as he tightened the seat on a friend`s bicycle.

``If the seat gets loose again, just take a wrench and tighten it. Make sure you go clockwise,`` he told his classmate.

The club is only part of a comprehensive bike safety program at the school, Harris said. The Police Department also conducts a bicycle court for schoolchildren who break the rules of the road, and distributes bicycle driver licenses to all club members.

``This is a big thing to them,`` Harris said of the yellow license cards bearing the names of Principal Pat Rancati and Police Chief Joseph McIntosh.

Students know that the license carries with it a responsibility to ride safely. ``You`re not supposed ride with no hands, or ride two on a bike,`` said fifth-grader Mike Snyder. ``I almost got a ticket once, but I only got a warning.``

In its first year, the club is busy on several group projects, including the construction of a mud track for bike games and the refurbishing of an old bicycle into something ``real cool,`` in Stack`s words.

Members already have mastered the art of building new bicycles by using parts from bikes that are beyond repair, Harris said.

The school`s Parent-Teacher Organization donated $100 to get the group started.